Trump Org settles Michael Cohen suit over legal fees, averting civil trial

MANHATTAN (CN) — Michael Cohen, who served for years as Trump’s longtime and loyal “fixer,” reached a private settlement of his civil lawsuit with the Trump Organization, the ex-lawyer confirmed Friday, concluding a yearslong fight over legal compensation and heading off a trial that was set to start next week.

“This matter has been resolved in a manner satisfactory to all parties,” Cohen told Courthouse News Friday afternoon.

Representatives for the Trump Organization did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Cohen initially brought the suit in 2019, seeking millions in reimbursement from the Trump Organization for legal costs in nearly a dozen proceedings, including criminal prosecution by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office and the Southern District of New York, civil litigation by adult film actress Stormy Daniels, cooperation in a state probe of the Trump Foundation, and congressional testimony before the House and Senate.

The civil trial in Manhattan Supreme Court had been set to begin Monday, and was expected to last four days.

Cohen argued in filings that the Trump Organization had agreed to indemnify him for his legal troubles in July 2017 — well before the FBI’s raid on Cohen’s home, hotel and office threw both men into legal jeopardy.

“As a result of the Trump Organization’s unfounded refusal to meet its indemnification obligations under the indemnification agreement, Mr. Cohen has incurred millions of dollars in unreimbursed attorneys’ fees and costs, plus additional indemnifiable amounts, and continues to incur attorneys’ fees and costs in connection with various ongoing investigations and litigation,” the 2019 civil complaint states.

The Trump Organization was represented by attorney James D. Kiley with Kiley, Kiley & Kiley, who previously interned in New Jersey federal district court for the former president’s older sister, Maryanne Trump Barry.

Trump himself would not have appeared as witness at Cohen’s trial, but the former president’s eldest son, Trump Organization CEO Donald Trump Jr., was expected to take the stand as a fact witness.

Jury selection in state civil court had already commenced Monday, during which half of the prospective jurors raised their hands when Justice Joel Cohen asked if any held strong opinions about former President Donald Trump or his family members.

Cohen, once considered among the most loyal figures in Trump’s inner circle, is now one of the former president’s most vocal critics and delivered key witness testimony in the Manhattan district attorney’s criminal probe of Trump’s finances.

Before Trump’s state court indictment this past March, his now-disbarred former lawyer met with Manhattan prosecutors some 20 times with respect to the investigation. Cohen previously pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance violations for facilitating hush-money payments to two women on behalf of Trump in the buildup to the 2016 presidential election.

Trump now is accused of 34 felony counts for falsifying business records — each count pertaining to an individual check, invoice or general ledger entry — to cover up those payments.

Cohen admitted as part of his 2018 guilty plea that the hush money was paid “at the coordination with and the direction of Individual-1," meaning Trump.

The Southern District of New York prosecuted Cohen but never brought criminal charges against Trump, who would have been empowered through the office of the presidency to pardon himself for any federal crime.

Trump cannot count on any such pardon in Florida, however, where he faces federal charges for mishandling classified documents after leaving office.

Earlier on Friday morning, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, set a May 20, 2024 trial date for the classified documents case, meaning Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s hush money case against the former president will be the first Trump criminal case to go to trial.

Both trials will run deep in the throes of the 2024 presidential primaries, in which Trump has been the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for months.

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